Fruit-Crops.com

was developed as an online aid to the class 'Introduction to Fruit Crops' (HORT 3020) at UGA. The material is from the book that I wrote for HORT 3020 ('Introduction to Fruit Crops'), a book still used in the class today, and it is reliable as a reference for any internet-based or traditional college class.

Here you will find fruit horticulture and agriculture tips for an online hort degree program for distance learning but you don't need to be a horticulture major or even working on a bachelor's or Master's degree to use the site.

Over the years I have enjoyed hearing from students, teachers, professors, government officials, farmers, crop industry experts and others from all over the world about fruit crops. If you have a question or comment please do not hesitate to contact me.

Also, please feel free to cite this information without permission for non-commercial purposes.

Thanks for visiting,
Mark

About Mark:

On August 1, 2012, Mark Rieger took office as dean of the University of Delaware's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Rieger served as associate dean and professor in the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences since 2006 and was interim dean in 2010-11. As associate dean, Rieger had major responsibilities in graduate programs, distance education, statewide degree completion programs, the honors program and international education.

Prior to joining the University of Florida faculty, he was a professor in the University of Georgia's Department of Horticulture from 1999-2006. He joined the University of Georgia faculty as an assistant professor in 1987 and was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and professor in 1999.

Rieger received a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1982 from the Pennsylvania State University, a master's degree in horticulture in 1984 from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in horticultural sciences in 1987 from the University of Florida.

Coconut – Cocos nucifera

COCONUT TAXONOMY

The Arecaceae or palm family is a large, distinct family of monocotyledonous plants, containing up to 4000 species distributed among 200+ genera. The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera L., is undoubtedly the most economically important plant in the family, as it is used as both an ornamental and a food crop.

Cultivars
Coconut palms have two natural subgroups simply referred to as “Tall” and “Dwarf”. Most commercial plantings use high yielding, longer lived Tall cultivars, and each region has its own selections, e.g., ‘Ceylon Tall’, Indian Tall’, ‘Jamaica Tall’ (syn. ‘Atlantic Tall’), ‘Panama Tall’ (syn. ‘Pacific Tall’). The Tall cultivar group is sometimes given the name Cocos nucifera var. typica, and the dwarf cultivar group C. nucifera var. nana.

ORIGIN OF THE COCOS NUCIFERA, HISTORY OF CULTIVATION

The origin of the coconut palm is obscured by the ability of the fruit to disseminate the species naturally over distances of thousands of miles. Coconuts can float on the ocean for months and still germinate when beached, so they may have arisen anywhere between the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans. Prior to the age of discovery, coconuts were dispersed from east Africa to the Pacific coast of Panama. Coconuts provided the only source of food and water on many of the atolls across the equatorial Pacific, and the natural distribution of coconut may have influenced the initial colonization of the region. It is clear that there were no coconut palms along the east coast of the Americas, western Africa, or the Caribbean prior to European exploration in the sixteenth century. Today, coconut is distributed pantropically, and even reaches extra-tropical areas such as southern Florida and the Bahamas. Coconut palms have been used since ancient times as a source of food, fiber, fuel, water, and shelter, and many of these uses are still important today. Coconut oil was one of the first, if not the first plant oil to be used by man, and was the leading vegetable oil until 1962 when eclipsed by soybean oil. Unlike many tropical fruits, coconuts are still grown largely by small landholders instead of on large plantations, although plantations have become more popular recently.

WORLD AND UNITED STATES COCONUT PRODUCTION

World (2002 FAO) – 53,473,584 MT or 118 billion pounds. Coconuts are produced in 92 countries worldwide on about 26 million acres. Average yield is 4457 lbs/acre.

Top 10 Countries
(% of world production)

1. Philippines (30%)

6. Thailand (3%)

2. Indonesia (26%)

7. Mexico (2%)

3. India (18%)

8. Vietnam (2%)

4. Brazil (5%)

9. Malaysia (1%)

5. Sri Lanka (3%)

10. Papua New Guinea (1%)

Coconuts are used to derive a number of products:
Copra – the dried endosperm or “meat” of coconut, commonly seen in cakes and candies.
Coconut oil – in 2002, production was slightly more than olive oil production.
Coconut cake – the residue left after pressing oil from copra, used as livestock feed
Coir – the fiber from the husk, used as packing material, rope, matting, fuel, and in potting mixes.
Water in immature coconuts provides a refreshing, nutritious drink.
United States – No production data. Coconut palms are grown in Hawaii and extreme southern Florida, largely as ornamentals.

For the most up to date statistical data on United States and World production numbers please refer to the following two websites:

World: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division (FAOSTAT). FAOSTAT

United States: The United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA Ag Stats). USDA Ag Stats

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Plant
Trees are typical single-trunked palms, reaching up to 100 ft in height, but generally 20-50 ft in cultivation. Leaves are among the largest of any plant (up to 20 ft), pinnately compound with 200 or more leaflets, and borne in a spiral arrangement at the apex of the trunk. Leaf life span may be 3 years, and mature, healthy palms have about 30 leaves, forming a new one and dropping the oldest one each month.

Flowers
Separate male and female flowers are borne in the same inflorescence, which is a compound spadix arising in the leaf axil. Flowers are off-white to gray or yellow, and inconspicuous. They are generally protandrous, meaning that male flowers release pollen before females become receptive. Flowering occurs continuously, since each leaf axil produces one inflorescence, and new leaves are produced approximately monthly.

Pollination
Since coconuts are protandrous, they are believed to be largely cross pollinated. Dwarf cultivars, particularly the popular ornamentals, are largely self-pollinating as opposed to the Tall cultivars of commerce which rarely pollinate themselves.

Fruit
Coconuts are large, dry drupes, ovoid in shape, up to 15″ long and 12″ wide. The exocarp or skin is green, yellow, or bronze-gold, turning to brown, depending on cultivar and maturity. The mesocarp is fibrous and dry at maturity; the product coir is derived from this layer. The endocarp is the hard shell enclosing the seed. Seeds are the largest of any plant, and have a thin brown seed coat. Seeds are filled with endosperm, which is solid and adherent to the seed coat, and also in liquid form, called “milk”. Copra is derived from the solid endosperm.

GENERAL CULTURE

Soils and Climate
Soils – adaptable to many soil types, and can be grown inland provided adequate drainage and pH between 5.0 and 8.0.
Climate – below 1000 ft elevation, frost-free subtropical areas and climates with extended dry seasons provided irrigation, but grow best in areas with mean temperatures of 70-80°F
Water needs – 40-60″ of water per year, and perform better in high humidity, supremely tolerant of hurricane force winds and driving rain, and rarely uprooted Tolerate salt spray better than most crops, and can tolerate brief flooding associated with tropical storms

Propagation
Like most palms, coconuts are seed propagated.

Rootstocks – None.

Planting Design, Training, Pruning
Planting Design – about 25 ft apart in all directions, often intercropped with staples like maize or even other tree crops. Enough light penetrates the palm canopy to allow grasses to grow beneath, and thus coconut is often a component of tropical silvopastoral systems for raising livestock.
Pruning or training – none required, older fronds or those injured by frost or disease are sometimes pruned off. Injury to the apical bud is fatal.

COCONUT HARVEST, POSTHARVEST HANDLING

Maturity
Fully mature fruit require about one year to ripen, and are brown or black, depending on cultivar. The endosperm, from which the copra and oil are derived, is mature at 10 months after bloom. For coir production, fruit must be harvested about 1 month before full maturity, since the mesocarp fiber turns brittle and dark at maturity. Water coconuts are harvested when about 7 months old, just after fruit reaches its full size and prior to mesocarp drying.

Harvest Method
Coconuts fall from trees when fully mature, and are easily collected from the ground.

Postharvest Handling
Coconuts intended for copra or oil production are split open with a machete, discarding the milk, and exposing the endosperm to the sun to dry. Drying takes 2-5 days in the sun, or can be done more quickly in kilns. Once dry, the copra is removed from the seeds with metal tools, and further dried to reach a water content of 5-6%. Coconut oil for is extracted mechanically by pressing, or chemically by the use of solvents.

Storage
Whole coconuts can be stored for several weeks prior to dehusking and extracting copra. Fruit are kept dry, but stored at ambient temperatures.

THE COCONUT’S CONTRIBUTION TO DIET

Several food uses or products exist for coconut. The primary product is copra, the white “meat” found adhering to the inner wall of the shell. It is dried to 2.5% moisture content, shredded, and used in cakes, candies, and other confections. Alternatively, coconut oil is expressed from copra, which is used in a wide variety of cooked foods and margarine. The raw copra can be grated and squeezed to obtain coconut “milk”. Coconut water is obtained from immature coconuts, providing a welcome source of fresh, sterile water in hot, tropical environments. The sap from the cut end of an inflorescence produces up to a gallon per day of brown liquid, rich in sugars and vitamin C. It can be boiled down into a brown sugar called “jaggery”, used as a sugar substitute in many areas. Left to ferment, the sap makes an alcoholic toddy, and later vinegar; “arrack” is made by distilling the toddy, and is a common, potent alcoholic spirit.

Per capita consumption of coconut is 0.6 lbs/year. Coconut oil is probably consumed in greater quantities than confectionary coconut products, but coconut oil would be only a small percentage of the 47 lbs of vegetable oils consumed annually.